Comments On: What Is The Seattle Times Company Really Measuring With Its Experiment in Bankrolling Political Ads?
by Eli Sandershttp://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/10/18/what-is-the-seattle-times-company-really-measuring-with-its-experiment-in-bankrolling-political-ads
Comments On: What Is The Seattle Times Company Really Measuring With Its Experiment in Bankrolling Political Ads?
by Eli Sandersen-usCopyright 2016 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger.webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster)Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:01 -0800Fri, 09 Dec 2016 07:45:00 -0800Foundationhttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Before you say this is impossible, consider this: decades ago when I attempted to sell radio advertising, I once had a potential client try to argue this with me, as if the station's FCC license required me to give away its only possible commercial product, so I believe the premise is already out there.
Posted by Mike Doughney]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:26:30 -0700The Stranger
She also felt a little bad for the employee on the phone.
Posted by meganc]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:55:31 -0700The Stranger
Posted by Fnarf]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:54:02 -0700The Stranger
Since this stunt cannot possibly work for its stated purpose and, in fact, works contrary to its stated purpose, the stated purpose cannot possibly be the actual purpose. The actual purpose must be simply to promote Rob McKenna's election.
Posted by Charlie Mas]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:51:06 -0700The Stranger
Posted by Pope Peabrain]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:42:09 -0700The Stranger
Posted by Hutch]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:23:23 -0700The Stranger
http://horsesass.org/?p=16424

I hate these conflicts...
Posted by Banned on The Seattle Times]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:41:23 -0700The Stranger
Posted by Joe Glibmoron]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:25:37 -0700The Stranger
Also, is this type of expenditure only legal now due to the Citizen's United ruling?

I'm now planning on donating both to R-74 and Inslee to counter this.
Posted by taco hut]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:23:52 -0700The Stranger
At the end of the call, when we were sorting out my billing status, I mentioned that I was quitting because of their announcement yesterday. The rep said she was hearing a lot of that this morning.
Posted by moretent]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:22:52 -0700The Stranger
Two basic outcomes exist in the gubernatorial election: either Inslee or McKenna wins.

If McKenna wins, who is to say it had anything to do with the Seattle Times advertising. One can never know, but I suspect Blethen and Co. will announce that their "experiment" was a success.

If Inslee wins, then will the Seattle Times admit their newspaper has no reach and obviously advertising in their pages is a worthless endeavor? Doubtful.

At the end of the day, all this will really prove is that the Seattle Times does not have the means to fill all their pages with any meaningful news and reporting, as opposed to advertising and political manifestos and endorsements. Why anybody would spend any money to buy what they produce is beyond me.
Posted by Daniel K]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:20:57 -0700The Stranger
Frank's inability to inhibit his political impulses is just one of the character flaws that will ultimately put him out of business.
Posted by seandr]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:17:43 -0700The Stranger
Posted by westello]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 08:11:00 -0700The Stranger
Or perhaps Inslee hasn't been spending enough money on ads in the Seattle Times and the real experiment is to see if they can force the campaign to spend more money now.
Posted by Bronco]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:49:15 -0700The Stranger
This is what has given rise to the media's one true bias: a bias towards sensationalism.

Any thoughtful reader of the Seattle Times has known for a long time that the paper has a number of political biases which it routinely indulges and clearly prioritizes above integrity. I don't believe for one moment that the views of the Editorial Board don't reflect those of the ownership and are not, in turn, reflected in the news content.

The Seattle Times should not be read as an unbiased account of activity in our community - no more than the Stranger, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other media outlet. They are all skewed by their need to make money if not by an overt and plainly stated bias.

NPR and PBS are not much better in their news coverage because they, too, are fighting for market share. They need to attract an audience just like any other media outlet.

On top of all of this, of course, is the McLuhan truth that television and radio are entertainment media, not information media, and everything on them, regardless of content, is entertainment.

When my kids were little I kept reminding them that nothing they see on TV is real. "What about the news?" they asked. "Especially the news" I told them.

The internet presents an interesting new medium which is an amalgam of a number of existing media. It is print, and video and audio all together. It is both a mass medium and a personal medium. It is both broadcast and peer-to-peer. The future appears to belong to aggregators like Huffington Post and Zite. But they don't do original journalism and I don't think they pay their contributors. People expect internet content to be free and given the supply, they should.

This is a critical question and concern because if newspapers no longer have a viable business model - and they don't - then who will do original journalism?
Posted by Charlie Mas]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:36:56 -0700The Stranger
WASHINGTON DC (AP) — Weekly applications for U.S. unemployment benefits jumped 46,000 last week to 388,000, the highest in four months.
Posted by Two Weeks. and counting.....]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:32:55 -0700The Stranger
This "experiment" will blow up. Good for the few talented reporters left there who can stand up for their credibility. Readers? They are voting with their feet.
Posted by Fizgig]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:30:07 -0700The Stranger
Posted by That's the ticket.]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:27:03 -0700The Stranger
He made one atrocious business decision after another -- his purchase of the Maine newspapers, spending millions on a year-long 100th anniversary of the Times vanity edition, spending $20 million goading employees into a strike that he could have settled for $2 million, maintaining a staff of overpaid, do-nothing ass-kissers in management, and generally running the newspaper into the ground that his family and tens of loyal employees had helped to build.

Now he sees his illusions of influence -- and even relevance -- slipping away, and he is grabbing at straws, not caring who it hurts, to prove to himself that he still matters.

#2 has nailed it. This idea is too stupid to have been anybody's baby but Frank's.

Posted by It's the nut behind the wheel]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:21:44 -0700The Stranger
This is another example of people trying to slide some terrible practices under the radar and getting skewered for it.

O, and here's how they could measure it. Let's see how many people cancel their subscription in the next week or so because of this bullshit.

Then they could say "Look! We lost half our readership over this! Clearly half the people reading our newspaper pay attention to the ads!"
Posted by Pick1]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:57:32 -0700The Stranger
Posted by Free Lunch]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:49:14 -0700The Stranger
The question I have is why is a writer for the Stranger, which doesn't differentiate between news and opinion, obsessed with this?
Posted by Much Ado About Nothing.]]>
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:21:48 -0700The Stranger